Not applicable.
Not applicable.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spacial logical toy having a total of twenty-six toy elements mounted on a spherical internal connecting element. The elements are assembled to a spacial body having an octagon cross section on any of the three mutually perpendicular axes.
2. Background Information
The well-known xe2x80x9cRubik""s Cubexe2x80x9d is a regular geometrical solid confined by planes, preferably a cube, built up of twenty-six small cubic toy elements, with any nine small cubes forming one surface of the overall larger cube, and which may be rotated in any direction of the spacial axes of the toy along spatial axes withing the cube. The small cubic elements forming the plane surface of the large cube are either colored or indicated with numbers, figures or any other symbols. According, by rotating the cubes, several combinations become possible in compliance with the contents yielded by the cube surface identifiers.
A number of patents have been granted that are concerned with various spacial logical toys and devices. Rubik, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,116, describes a spacial logical toy with eighteen toy elements arranged in a 3xc3x973xc3x972 matrix. Rotation of a portion of the matrix along either the X, Y or Z axis is possible. Solving the puzzle is similar to the 3xc3x973xc3x973 matrix. Rubik, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,378,117, describes another spacial logical toy with eight toy elements arranged in a 2xc3x972xc3x972 matrix. The geometrical shape can be a cube or a sphere, with rotation of a portion of the matrix along either the X, Y or Z axis. The structure employs a spring loaded connector to hold the matrix pieces together.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,410,179, Rubik discloses a cylindrical shiftable element puzzle. The puzzle has two tiers of six elements each, with the pieces rotatable about three axes as well as between the two tiers. Sasso, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,416,453, describes a puzzle in the form of a multicolored regular solid. Plates on the faces of the solid have multiple colors and the objective is to arrange the plates so that no two colors of adjacent plates are the same.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,418, Sherman, Jr. discloses a three-dimensional sliding element puzzle having a spherical inner support with circular tracks for movement of the puzzle pieces. One puzzle with square and triangular surface pieces is shown. U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,090 by Nieto describes a polyhedral puzzle with a central body of polyhedron shape on the faces of which are pivoted with the intermediate body pieces slidably carrying the external body elements. Nadel, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,201, discloses a geometrical puzzle toy with a spherical base and with a plurality of tile members that are attachable to the base member. A variety of polyhedron shapes can be produced with various tile shapes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,593,908, Ibrahim describes a movable block geometrical puzzle having eight core pieces and having rotatable pyramid pieces connected to plane surfaces formed by the surfaces of at least two of the core pieces. The puzzle uses the 2xc3x972xc3x972 matrix configuration for the core blocks and exhibits the same movements as the cubic 2xc3x972xc3x972 matrix puzzle. The puzzle provides rotatable movement of pyramid blocks about an axis perpendicular to the plane surface to which the blocks are secured, as well as movement along with the supporting core blocks.
None of the above patents disclose a spacial logical toy having a total of twenty-six toy elements mounted on a spherical internal connecting element, with the elements assembled to a spacial body having an octagon cross section on any of the three mutually perpendicular axes.
The invention is a spacial logical toy composed of a spherical core member plus twenty-six surrounding pieces arranged in a 3xc3x973xc3x973 matrix structure that has an octagon cross section along the X, Y, and Z symmetry axes of the matrix structure. The spacial logical toy is a regular geometric solid having a total of twenty-six planar exterior surfaces. The surfaces include eighteen square surfaces and eight triangular surfaces and is highly symmetrical with three orthogonal symmetry axes.
The spherical core member includes six cylindrical connector assemblies oriented along the three orthogonal symmetry axes of the toy. The twenty-six surrounding pieces include three sets of toy elements, a first set of six identical elements, a second set of eight identical elements and a third set of twelve identical elements. The first set of six toy elements are each T-shaped with a hollow bore sized to accept a cylindrical connector assembly from the base of the T-shaped element. The T-shaped toy elements each include a square surface which forms part of the geometric solid surface. The second set of toy elements each includes a triangular surface which forms part of the geometric solid surface, and third set of toy elements each includes a square surface which forms part of the geometric solid surface. The second set and third set of toy elements each include integrally formed cam elements, with each cam element having a spherical section surface for positioning adjacent the spherical core member.
With the T-shaped toy elements each secured to one cylindrical connector assembly of the spherical core member, the second and third sets of toy elements are interlockingly secured in the geometric matrix by the cam element present on each toy element. The configuration of the three sets of toy elements allows for any group of nine adjacent toy elements with one T-shaped toy element at the center to be rotated about one of the coordinate axes relative to the remainder of the octagon cube toy.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the twenty-six outer surfaces of the octagon cube toy are each provided with one of three colors. In one embodiment the colors red, white and blue are employed. One center T-shaped toy element is colored red and the center T-shaped toy element directly across the octagon cube is colored blue. The other four center T-shaped toy elements are colored white. Each toy element exterior surface touching the red center T-shaped toy element is also colored red, while each toy element exterior surface touching the blue center T-shaped toy element is also colored blue. The remaining toy element exterior surfaces are colored white. The twenty-six exterior surfaces of the octagon cube toy are also numbered or lettered consecutively. This configuration is designated as the xe2x80x9csolutionxe2x80x9d to the octagon puzzle matrix. The smaller sections of the octagon cube are mixed up by rotation of various puzzle faces, and then reconfigured to the original structure. The three colors of the octagon cube matrix surface can be selected to represent the colors of the flag of a particular country.
In an alternative embodiment of the invention, the spacial logical toy includes a spherical core member plus twenty-six surrounding pieces arranged in a 3xc3x973xc3x973 matrix structure that has an octagon cross section along the X, Y, and Z symmetry axes of the matrix structure. The spacial logical toy is a regular geometric solid having a total of forty-two planar exterior surfaces. The surfaces include eighteen square surfaces and twenty-four triangular surfaces and is highly symmetrical with three orthogonal symmetry axes.
The spherical core member includes six cylindrical connector assemblies oriented along the three orthogonal symmetry axes of the toy. The twenty-six surrounding pieces include three sets of toy elements, a first set of six identical elements, a second set of eight identical elements and a third set of twelve identical elements. The first and third sets of toy elements are as described above, while the second set of toy elements each has three triangular surfaces positioned on the toy outer surface. The inner construction of the three sets of toy pieces is as described above. In a preferred embodiment, the exterior surfaces of the toy has twelve different colors, with the surfaces configured to form twelve hexagon surfaces, one of each of the twelve different colors employed. This configuration is designated the xe2x80x9csolution xe2x80x9d to the alternative embodiment of octagon puzzle matrix.